Woes of a Teenage Werewolf
by museme87
Summary: Stuck in the Infirmary on Hogsmeade weekend, Remus finds himself in the company of a most welcome visitor.  Remus/Sirius


**Warnings: **Unrequited love (at least at this point), Sirius dating a girl

* * *

Remus can almost feel the shadow looming over him in his potion-induced half-sleep. Opening his eyes just so—and God, how can eyelids burn so much?—he makes out the shape of someone standing next to his bed, a decidedly male someone. It takes him a minute to push past the drugged haziness in his head to realize that it's Sirius, and he looks either really angry or incredibly concerned. Remus can't be sure which at the moment, and knows it might end up being a fine mix of the two.

The strangeness of the situation doesn't occur to him until after his eyelids slip closed again. It's Hogsmeade weekend, and Sirius ought to be on a date with Sophia. But he obviously can't be in two places at once, so he's either there or here. Opening his eyes a little more fully this time, Remus decides that he most certainly is here.

"Thought you were on a date," he says groggily.

Sirius' lips thin in a most perturbed fashion. "I _was_ until I was informed that some idiot decided to collapse in the middle of the common room."

By the terseness of his voice and the overall expression of his face, Remus thinks that Sirius is definitely more angry than concerned. He doesn't understand _why_ he's angry though; it's not as if he _chose_ to pass out, and he most certainly did not ask Sirius to come back to the castle on his account.

Sirius sighs. "What the hell were you thinking, Moony?"

"Well, you know, I thought I would pass out on the morning of Hogsmeade weekend and spend the day lying in the Infirmary rather than meeting up with my mates. Sounded so much more fun," he explains, sarcasm dripping from his words.

"That's not what I meant. You should have told us if you weren't feeling well. We would have stayed behind and looked after you."

Yes, Remus is well aware of that. But, he didn't need to be mothered, nor had he wanted to be. And besides, James had been looking forward to following Lily around like a lost puppy as well as conning Rosmerta into giving them a bottle of Firewhisky for their stash. Sirius had a date with his girlfriend, and Peter had talked about chatting up a Hufflepuff and seeing if he couldn't get a little action. No one would have wanted to stick around to watch him lie in bed all day.

"You had plans…" he says softly.

Sirius sits on the edge of his bed, his expression thoughtful. "We would have cancelled."

"Sirius."

"Well, _I_ would have cancelled."

"And ditched Sophie for me?"

"Of course."

Remus tries not to interpret that how he would like to. He knows Sirius fancies girls, especially girls that are Sophie. And Remus is most certainly _not_ a girl, so it doesn't matter how much _he's_ begun to feel attracted to Sirius. He doesn't have a chance in hell, and it would be perfectly foolish to pretend that Sirius would choose him over Sophie. So he's not going to pretend. _At all_.

"Liar," Remus admonishes, "You like Sophie too much to call your date off last minute."

Sirius glances at him, and Remus thinks for a moment that he could easily get lost in those eyes. A frown is quick to pull at his lips, Sirius' expression going from indifferent to melancholy.

"Things haven't been so great with Soph lately."

"What happened?" Remus asks, and he finds himself legitimately concerned despite the circumstance of his affections.

"Ever since that scare last month, things have been strained." Sirius shrugs. "I can't go out with her, Moony. She's a sweet girl—and one hell of a Seeker—but she's also a half-blood. My parents don't approve of my dating anyone who isn't pureblood and aren't likely to look after any 'indiscretions' that result from a liaison that's not of their approval."

"And by 'indiscretions' you mean a baby? Would they make you...get rid of it?"

"I don't know. Maybe. They'd at least send the girl away and force her to give the kid up or something. Merlin knows what they would really do. The point is, I like Sophia too much to force her to be _that_ girl."

Remus knows that Sirius means to break-up with Sophia, though Sirius doesn't voice it and probably won't until he has a talk with her. Sirius' decision comes as a bit of a surprise, and while Sirius' impending single status will certainly allow _him_ some more alone time with Sirius—of the strictly innocent kind—Remus feels bad for his friend. For a while there Sirius was really mad for the girl.

"Sorry, mate."

"No need to be. Such is the curse of my kind," he says melodramatically, before nudging Remus with his elbow. "Be happy you can date whoever you want."

Whoever he wants? Remus wishes Sirius could see the irony of the situation, but without being privy to Remus' fierce desire to snog him senseless, it's quite lost on him. He thinks for a moment that it would be funny if he did imply as much. And maybe it's the fact that he's channeling his inner Gryffindor, or maybe it's because he's hopped up on potions, but the end result is the same—he opens his mouth.

"And if I wanted to date _you_?" Remus asks, and it doesn't come off quite as serious as he thinks it should.

At first Sirius is silent, then he gives a sudden, very ungentlemanly snort—one that no doubt would appall his mother—and breaks into a fit of laughter. Remus supposes that the whole thing _is_ rather absurd—he, Remus John Lupin, half-breed, dating pureblood, born-and-bred aristocrat, Sirius Orion Black?—but Sirius' laughter does deflate what little hope he ever had of seeing his fantasy come alive, and Remus mourns the loss.

"You'd want to date me?" Sirius pauses for a breath between laughs.

"No," Remus replies, trying to sound as if he was horrified by the thought. "It was a joke."

Sirius has, apparently, not heard his forced rejection. "Why in the world would you fancy me?"

A hundred things come to mind instantly—the sharp lines of his body, the way his hips protrude just so beneath his skin, the length of his eyelashes, the curve of his jaw. There are other reasons too, of course—much less superficial ones—like his wit, or his sense of humor, or how Sirius pushes him to break the rules and get that little thrill from it. It's brilliant, _Sirius_ is brilliant. And, Remus knows that he himself is everything but.

"God only knows why someone would fancy you, Sirius. I know I definitely don't," Remus explains, praying he sounds convincing.

"Shame," Sirius says, grinning like a Cheshire cat and shifting to lay next to Remus on the bed. "A bloke would probably reorient himself for you."

Remus tries to suppress the heat that blooms on his cheeks from both Sirius' comment and his close proximity. He knows that Sirius doesn't really mean it, knows it because of the wild grin still gracing his lips. And for all that he wants to shift his leg to touch Sirius' own, or reach out and brush a stray lock of hair from Sirius' cheek, Remus resists. From years of bottling up his emotions, Remus expertly shoves his own feelings aside and rolls his eyes.

"Whatever you say, Sirius."


End file.
